@@scooby2142 A comfortable ride with enough sense of being on rails, seats lined up with the window, generous two a side seating in groups of four, ample luggage storage, simple interior colour scheme with minimal patterning, low seat backs allowing for views to the vestibule or the half barrier at the centre of the coach, effective air con, fantastic crash resistance, no bogie hunting, no rattles, unfussy BR blue and light grey livery, tinted double glazing, good loos, excellent longitudinal lighting by concealed fluorescent tubes, easy to use hand holds attached to each pair of seats, overall clean, simple ‘Sixties’ modernist design which was very restful on the eye. Everything which today’s cramped and claustrophobic airliner style rolling stock lacks. Designers: please study the BRMk2Ds or just build more of them adjusted to take automatic plug doors used in later BR carriage designs.
What a great vidio really enjoyed that.... A snapshot of Great Britain in the early 1970s the cars the fashion.... The young lady in pink hotpants and of course the gorgeous vintage locomotives.... These vintage BTF are so enjoyable 👍
Such optimism, shame so much effort was squandered by successive governments. Think where we would be now if we had continued to genuinely support rail...
All true, but had the job been done properly, more freight would have stayed on the rails and with proper investment, which didn't happen, I believe things would have been very different. As the son of a railwayman, I believe BR was chronically underfunded and mismanaged.
What a fabulous snapshot in time. I'd love to see something similar that was recorded exclusively on the Western region. My first long-distance journey was Swindon to Swansea in the very early 70s, before Swindon station was fully "modernised" (sic) and I still have a few memories of that.
I really enjoyed that, thanks. Worth watching for the rake of rarely filmed UTV timber wagons at the start. How simple the future seemed for rail back then before politics screwed it (and a lot of other things) up during the 70s.
@@stephensmith799 Don't blame John Major, blame us joining the EEC / Common Market, as described in the film. By joining, we were obliged to make the railways and other industries open to competition, imposible as a state controlled entity. I'm no fan of Major but he came along far later than any of this. These changes were all part of Wilson, Heath etc.
@@nigelarmstrong252 You have been badly misinformed. Seventy percent of UK Rail Franchises are at least minority or majority owned by foreign state owned railways, including DB (German Government owned), with hefty foreign state owned railway holdings by Italy, France, The Netherlands state railway and the Hong Kong Rapid Transit system, owned by the Chinese government. There is no EU requirement for rail privatisation. (It was a Brexit untruth along with the Straight Cucumber nonsense and the claim that Brussels was going to outlaw low cut dresses on bar maids🤣😅🤣. Our rail fares are, I think you’ll find, the highest in Europe. Foreign governments are delighted with UK subsidies for their own railway systems. Another thing which they must be pleased with is that with every UK rail strike, our government pays for the shortfall in earnings for that day. The franchise holders lose nothing. This is prolonging industrial disputes. Privatisation had nothing to do with the EU, Ted Heath or Harold Wilson. (Unless you have any other information to offer.) A similar sorry story applies in Bus Franchising and the Water and Sewerage Companies (£61billions in debt due to inflated payouts to shareholders and chief executives). I’d be pleased to hear from you an example of a privatisation success or a Brexit benefit. 🙏Please. I’d be pleased to be proved wrong as I am subject to the gravity of facts rather than magical thinking.
@@stephensmith799 Britain signed up to join the EEC / Common Market in 1972 and joined in 1973 during the Heath government. The name "Common Market" is a clue to what followed over the years as Britain followed most rules/requirements to the letter where many continental European countries were less obedient. One of the rules, (91/440 is the earliest I can find online) and it relates to railways. The EEC doesn't use "Privatisation" as a term, they use "competition" and "markets" etc. In the name of competition, member state's railways should be available to any other member state or company to tender / operate services. British Rail was obviously a state owned network since 1948 when it was nationalised. As a state owned entity, the EEC directive couldn't be applied/adopted. To comply with the directive, BR had to be broken up into seperate entities that could then be offered to the markets in the name of competiton. Granted, Major was in government when it happened but he inherited the requirement by Heath taking us into the EEC back in 1972. Had we not joined the EEC or simply ignored the directive, we'd probably still have a state owned British Rail today. If the subsidies given to franchisees in passenger and freight had been applied as funding to British Rail, we would have had and possibly still have a great railway network. I used the railway a lot back in the 70s and 80s so I know exactly what the network was like back then. With some pro railway management and more investment, it would have been fantastic. We were once self sufficient in railway engineering, producing our own motive power and rolling stock. BREL was a success in this production for home and export markets, started in 1970 and closed in 1992. (Note the year). From 1992 onwards, the almost total decline of home manufacture and move to total import of railway motive power. Look at the timeline of how our railways changed and compare it with the timeline of our joining the EEC. As we got deeper in, the more compliant we became. Major was in power in 1991, yes, but even if it had been a Labour government, it would still have happened. Like it or not, joining the EEC/Common Market was the death knell of British Rail and was also the catalyst for the privatisation of all our utilities. Thatcher was initially pro EEC because she was pro Market Capitalism. When she saw that the EEC was becoming a social union, she became very anti EEC. This is one of the main reasons that Major and his collaborators stabbed her in the back and forced her out. I'm totally pro railways and would renationalise the network tomorrow. The structure would be different than in the past but it would be regarded in the same light as water and energy, as part of our national infrastrcture and wholly controlled at a national level. The government has done nothing to implement anything as part of Brexit. If anything, Brexit should theoretically enable us to secede from the directive and re-establish a state control of the railways. EEC = European Economic Community. Sold to us as the "Common Market".
Those taped announcements (recorded by Her Majesty the Queen) were still in use well into the 90s. It was the pride with which they declared "This train conveys buffet car facilities" that I liked 😋
Nice film. Only the sound editor had no clue of types of locomotives, of all of the sounds to choose from he got it right one time. Deltic sounds like a class 25 or 26, 25 sounds like a Deltic, 26 sounds like a 37, the only time he got it right was the last minute with the class 50, which actually sounded like the class 50
18:09 That Chairman's coach is pretty utilitarian! You can't imagine chairmen of railway companies these days travelling by train! And the European Community Education train...I couldn't help but think of the "£350m to the NHS" bus of the Leave campaign! Seriously, a great film. The optimism was infectious.
I note the Gateway logo on the sign. My father worked for wiggins Tempe, and while he was based in an office in London I remember him doing some work at a Mill in Fort William, so it was probably this place, He retired early with ill health in, I think 1969, and died soon afterwards; what date was this film?
Privatisation ruined our railways. Vast profits that should be invested here is instead going to the French and German railways. A real shame as it could have been so much better.
Shame that back in the 1970's BR knew what problems it faced and attempted to rivel that of the car, air travel and motorways but yet today its no wonder why people opt for any way of travel except rail travel due to the fact that in most cases a car can get to a destination quicker than a train, the actual cost of rail travel which continuously increases year on year but the public are not getting a quicker or more efficient journey..
Would have been fine if they stuck with it and didn't send a load of drunk journos on the first trip too. Typical British tactic we then end up buying it back from the Italians having abandoned it didn't we. The UK government really hated railways .
@@TheSynthnut Unfortunately they still hate the railways, no profit in it for the greedy buggers. We could have the greatest public rail transport service in the world with all our infrastructure. Yet it is the butt of all jokes due to the lack of investment and foresight.
Was killed before it was ready thanks to pissed journalists. It was rushed into use before the kinks were engineered out. Various groups in BR wanted it killed. Years ahead of its time
The APT was put into use too early. Plus the inaugural run had all the journalists utterly pissed before they even got on the train - no wonder some felt ill.
Beeching was a hard bitten Tory. The Tories sold the railways off to the deutsche Bahn and French national rail:) sorry to burst your little bubble of misplaced outrage.
Mark 2 intercity seems luxury to what we have this day💯
"this ever more crowded island".... lol, and that was in '72.
Wonderful. A special shout out for the BRMk2D. The best travel experience ever placed on UK rails, never bettered.
Correctomundo
@@scooby2142 A comfortable ride with enough sense of being on rails, seats lined up with the window, generous two a side seating in groups of four, ample luggage storage, simple interior colour scheme with minimal patterning, low seat backs allowing for views to the vestibule or the half barrier at the centre of the coach, effective air con, fantastic crash resistance, no bogie hunting, no rattles, unfussy BR blue and light grey livery, tinted double glazing, good loos, excellent longitudinal lighting by concealed fluorescent tubes, easy to use hand holds attached to each pair of seats, overall clean, simple ‘Sixties’ modernist design which was very restful on the eye. Everything which today’s cramped and claustrophobic airliner style rolling stock lacks.
Designers: please study the BRMk2Ds or just build more of them adjusted to take automatic plug doors used in later BR carriage designs.
I'm an "officially 'elderly'" person. I enjoy these very much! Thank you SO much for your channel
Did you watch these when they came out
I am, too.
I love watching these old films. ❤️
What a great vidio really enjoyed that.... A snapshot of Great Britain in the early 1970s the cars the fashion.... The young lady in pink hotpants and of course the gorgeous vintage locomotives.... These vintage BTF are so enjoyable 👍
Absolutely cracking film 👍
I remember these short films at the Pictures, before the main picture. Loved it especially when it was a railway one!
Such optimism, shame so much effort was squandered by successive governments. Think where we would be now if we had continued to genuinely support rail...
What? The government broke something? Never!
Yes, the paying public stayed away in droves and bought their own cars instead!
@@billpugh58 Yes, but the nut mentioned where would we be now, not then.
All true, but had the job been done properly, more freight would have stayed on the rails and with proper investment, which didn't happen, I believe things would have been very different. As the son of a railwayman, I believe BR was chronically underfunded and mismanaged.
We are victims of Self Service instead of Public Service. Hence we have a government that has only space for the criminally insane
These old railway films are great. Thanks to whoever posts them.
What a fabulous snapshot in time. I'd love to see something similar that was recorded exclusively on the Western region. My first long-distance journey was Swindon to Swansea in the very early 70s, before Swindon station was fully "modernised" (sic) and I still have a few memories of that.
This is a time machine! It brought back so many memories! Thank you!
The crest of the 'modernization' wave as the swinging sixties was about to morph into the swingeing seventies. A lovely trip down memory lane :)
superb. love these bygone vids
Year I was born!!😃
9:02"The motorist can step straight onto British Rail's Inter-City network" Without even bothering to lock his car, it seems
A lock wouldn't delay someone who wanted to nick a car in the 90s, let alone the 70s, Just use a duplicate key lol
@@HexAyed might not delay them but it doesn’t mean you’d just leave your car unlocked anyway 🤣
If he had locked the car the cameraman would have been trapped...
Car locks weren't invented til 86. It was kind of a big deal.
Locks are to keep honest people honest.
I really enjoyed that, thanks. Worth watching for the rake of rarely filmed UTV timber wagons at the start. How simple the future seemed for rail back then before politics screwed it (and a lot of other things) up during the 70s.
Since privatisation by John Major, what was ‘Europe’s second most cost effective railway’ now costs taxpayers five times (5 x ) more to run🤨☹️🫣😏
@@stephensmith799 Don't blame John Major, blame us joining the EEC / Common Market, as described in the film. By joining, we were obliged to make the railways and other industries open to competition, imposible as a state controlled entity.
I'm no fan of Major but he came along far later than any of this. These changes were all part of Wilson, Heath etc.
@@nigelarmstrong252 You have been badly misinformed. Seventy percent of UK Rail Franchises are at least minority or majority owned by foreign state owned railways, including DB (German Government owned), with hefty foreign state owned railway holdings by Italy, France, The Netherlands state railway and the Hong Kong Rapid Transit system, owned by the Chinese government. There is no EU requirement for rail privatisation. (It was a Brexit untruth along with the Straight Cucumber nonsense and the claim that Brussels was going to outlaw low cut dresses on bar maids🤣😅🤣.
Our rail fares are, I think you’ll find, the highest in Europe. Foreign governments are delighted with UK subsidies for their own railway systems. Another thing which they must be pleased with is that with every UK rail strike, our government pays for the shortfall in earnings for that day. The franchise holders lose nothing. This is prolonging industrial disputes.
Privatisation had nothing to do with the EU, Ted Heath or Harold Wilson. (Unless you have any other information to offer.)
A similar sorry story applies in Bus Franchising and the Water and Sewerage Companies (£61billions in debt due to inflated payouts to shareholders and chief executives).
I’d be pleased to hear from you an example of a privatisation success or a Brexit benefit.
🙏Please. I’d be pleased to be proved wrong as I am subject to the gravity of facts rather than magical thinking.
@@stephensmith799 Britain signed up to join the EEC / Common Market in 1972 and joined in 1973 during the Heath government. The name "Common Market" is a clue to what followed over the years as Britain followed most rules/requirements to the letter where many continental European countries were less obedient.
One of the rules, (91/440 is the earliest I can find online) and it relates to railways.
The EEC doesn't use "Privatisation" as a term, they use "competition" and "markets" etc. In the name of competition, member state's railways should be available to any other member state or company to tender / operate services.
British Rail was obviously a state owned network since 1948 when it was nationalised. As a state owned entity, the EEC directive couldn't be applied/adopted.
To comply with the directive, BR had to be broken up into seperate entities that could then be offered to the markets in the name of competiton.
Granted, Major was in government when it happened but he inherited the requirement by Heath taking us into the EEC back in 1972.
Had we not joined the EEC or simply ignored the directive, we'd probably still have a state owned British Rail today. If the subsidies given to franchisees in passenger and freight had been applied as funding to British Rail, we would have had and possibly still have a great railway network.
I used the railway a lot back in the 70s and 80s so I know exactly what the network was like back then. With some pro railway management and more investment, it would have been fantastic.
We were once self sufficient in railway engineering, producing our own motive power and rolling stock. BREL was a success in this production for home and export markets, started in 1970 and closed in 1992. (Note the year). From 1992 onwards, the almost total decline of home manufacture and move to total import of railway motive power.
Look at the timeline of how our railways changed and compare it with the timeline of our joining the EEC.
As we got deeper in, the more compliant we became. Major was in power in 1991, yes, but even if it had been a Labour government, it would still have happened.
Like it or not, joining the EEC/Common Market was the death knell of British Rail and was also the catalyst for the privatisation of all our utilities.
Thatcher was initially pro EEC because she was pro Market Capitalism. When she saw that the EEC was becoming a social union, she became very anti EEC. This is one of the main reasons that Major and his collaborators stabbed her in the back and forced her out.
I'm totally pro railways and would renationalise the network tomorrow. The structure would be different than in the past but it would be regarded in the same light as water and energy, as part of our national infrastrcture and wholly controlled at a national level.
The government has done nothing to implement anything as part of Brexit.
If anything, Brexit should theoretically enable us to secede from the directive and re-establish a state control of the railways.
EEC = European Economic Community.
Sold to us as the "Common Market".
Great video, thank you.
ahhhh.... the year I was born
I turned 3 in 1972
Nice trip back in time 👍👍👍
2 years before I was born....
I was 18 that year. Remember it well.
another gem
I’m amazed at these videos outlining the modernization effort GB took in the fifties and sixties. America let their system rot.
Really l think we have the most efficient railroads in the world
Those taped announcements (recorded by Her Majesty the Queen) were still in use well into the 90s. It was the pride with which they declared "This train conveys buffet car facilities" that I liked 😋
4:06 wondered where John candy got his idea for trains, planes & automobiles
Nice film.
Only the sound editor had no clue of types of locomotives, of all of the sounds to choose from he got it right one time.
Deltic sounds like a class 25 or 26, 25 sounds like a Deltic, 26 sounds like a 37, the only time he got it right was the last minute with the class 50, which actually sounded like the class 50
Oh for a class 55 and a rake of Mk2's along the ECML nowadays....
Brilliant video.
Awesome film!.. I just love the optimism, just wish it had been justified
Superb!The year that I was born,too.
I enjoyed the ever congested roads comment. Less than ten years after the Dr Beeching report closed half of the existing railways.
Wow, all that “modern” equipment! It certainly looked like the sky was the limit for railroads.
Is that Michael Edwardes there at 11:50? Early days for him if so.
That timber train - 350 tons? - would be quite a challenge for a solo Class 27.
Probably a 60 or 66 today. No wonder they were always worn out.
18:09 That Chairman's coach is pretty utilitarian! You can't imagine chairmen of railway companies these days travelling by train! And the European Community Education train...I couldn't help but think of the "£350m to the NHS" bus of the Leave campaign! Seriously, a great film. The optimism was infectious.
Yes, this was when britain was in serious economic trouble and was saved by becoming a member of the EEC trade area.
@@billpugh58lt was saved by Maggie Thatcher.
To think that 4 years before this was filmed steam was in its final days on BR
9:01 Didn’t need to lock you car back then!
So many great ideas there. Pity most of them went down like a fat kid on a see saw !
The Paddington Evaluation Centre. - BR's equivalent of Bletchley Park 🕵♂️
Look very good
First comment. Thank you for posting this one.
11:39 - wow.
14:45 ?
14:45Pink hotpants and boots 😏
12:15 naughty weekend with his secretary. Don't tell the wife.
I absolutely would 👍🏻
"The visual patern is easily understood...."
Was half expecting a "even a woman can do it!"
I note the Gateway logo on the sign. My father worked for wiggins Tempe, and while he was based in an office in London I remember him doing some work at a Mill in Fort William, so it was probably this place, He retired early with ill health in, I think 1969, and died soon afterwards; what date was this film?
1972
👍😍 get trucks off the road
Privatisation ruined our railways. Vast profits that should be invested here is instead going to the French and German railways. A real shame as it could have been so much better.
Utterly agree.
At 9:15, that is one seriously tall lady!
Nice old footage but badly dubbed. A Deltic that sounds like a 25.
Shame that back in the 1970's BR knew what problems it faced and attempted to rivel that of the car, air travel and motorways but yet today its no wonder why people opt for any way of travel except rail travel due to the fact that in most cases a car can get to a destination quicker than a train, the actual cost of rail travel which continuously increases year on year but the public are not getting a quicker or more efficient journey..
Hi Duckie... I think your bill interfered with your pronunciation good buddy. It is "rival". Have an awesome day.
2022 look at the state of things now
Tallington is still sending out concrete structures by rail. Before Covid they had a new siding laid.
The gypsum mine is no longer in production.
@@GaryNumeroUno sentence corrected.
@@neiloflongbeck5705 cheers good buddy. Sad the traffic finished up. It seemed to be a successful business case.
@@GaryNumeroUno the mine was worked out in the 1990s.
Yes…. Tallington to the Isle of Grain in kent
A train specially for the 'joining' of the Common Market (EU).... I wonder how that panned out... 😉
BTF had some very strange music scores
A young Mr Bean at 12.15, and Victor Meldrew train announcements at 13.22
11:48Zoom is nothing new
👍
15:55 "The electro-hydraulic tilting mechanism will ensure complete comfort for the passenger..." wonder how they got on with that? 🤢🤮🤮
Would have been fine if they stuck with it and didn't send a load of drunk journos on the first trip too. Typical British tactic we then end up buying it back from the Italians having abandoned it didn't we. The UK government really hated railways .
@@TheSynthnut Unfortunately they still hate the railways, no profit in it for the greedy buggers. We could have the greatest public rail transport service in the world with all our infrastructure. Yet it is the butt of all jokes due to the lack of investment and foresight.
Was killed before it was ready thanks to pissed journalists. It was rushed into use before the kinks were engineered out. Various groups in BR wanted it killed. Years ahead of its time
sidsy darcy ,,, rip
Lost more than we've gained.
15:19
90? Hah! My train can do 100 and others can do 120 and those on the continent can do 220!
*Scotch forests
It's where Scotch mist comes from.
Glen Forest is a nice whisky
Sorry old boy, but your much vaunted 'APT' didn't quite work out as you planned, eh, wot? And as for Darby...
The technology gained during the APT trails was sold off to Siemens, and the APT itself spent many years at the rtc Derby visible from the road.
The APT was put into use too early. Plus the inaugural run had all the journalists utterly pissed before they even got on the train - no wonder some felt ill.
hahahaha.
just keep the labour party well away from the railways
Beeching was a hard bitten Tory. The Tories sold the railways off to the deutsche Bahn and French national rail:) sorry to burst your little bubble of misplaced outrage.